Non-metallic twist tie

ABSTRACT

The present invention provides a nonmetallic twist tie in which the function inherent to the twist tie is of course available and the twist tie is easily made into a shape of being wound in a bundle with no slipping down of the tie into gap, no torsion of the tie itself, no curl, no twining and tangling of ties and no loosening or disjoining from a reel whereby its drawing-out from the wound shape is able to be carried out smoothly. The nonmetallic twist tie having a core part and a wing part constituted from a non-halogenous material is characterized in that (1) a shape having a total width is 1.5 to 20.0 mm, the average thickness of the wing part is 0.02 to 0.20 mm and the maximum thickness of the core part is 0.04- to 0.30-fold of the total width, (2) a binding property where a torsion strength is 5.0 to 15 N, (3) a rigidity where a tensile elasticity is 5,000 to 30,000 Mpa, (4) a property of forming a fixed shape where the property is 90% or more and a property of retaining a fixed shape where the rate of retaining the fixed shape is 70 to 95%, and (5) a drawing-out property where a degree of curving to the drawing-out direction is 10° or less and a curl radius to the winding direction retains the range of 50 to 200 mm.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a nonmetallic twist tie having no coreline in the core part or having no wire for a core line in the core partand being able to form into a good wound shape in a bundle. The tie isused for binding a material to be bound using a binding machine mostlyin food companies where bread, confectionery, etc. are manufactured orsold, in agricultural garden companies where cut flower, etc. areproduced or sold, in electric and electronic instrument companies whereelectric and electronic products with wiring devices are manufactured orsold, etc.

BACKGROUND ART

In the long-size wound twist tie of such a type, it is necessary that,in its repeatedly wound state onto a reel or the like, there is noslipping down of the tie into reel gap, no torsion and curl, no twiningand tangling of ties, no loosening or disjoining from a reel and smoothdrawing-out. Accordingly, soft PVC is used as a resin material for amaterial to be coated, a twist tie using a wire which has a big abilityof forming a fixed shape as a core material is wound around a plasticreel or the like and the resulting one is often used in the case ofbinding a thing to be bound by means of a high-binding number of 50 to100 bindings per minute.

On the other hand, due to considerations to environment in recent years,there has been a strong demand particularly in food companies,electric/electronic companies, etc. for a product where no wire is usedin core material (or core part) and, further, substance of the materialused therefor such as coating agent is a non-halogenous material such asan olefin resin.

In order to meet the demand as such, various ties have been proposed bythe present applicant already. They are, for example, Japanese UtilityModel Laid-Open No. 60/190,654 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos.11/293,577 and 2000/118,555 for a lamination twist tie using a plasticline as a core material and paper or olefin resin (e.g., PE, PP, PET orPBT) as a coating material; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,797,313, Japanese PatentNos. 2,520,403and2,813,994, U.S. Pat. No. 5,154,964 and Japanese PatentLaid-Open No. 2000/095,267 for a non-core twist tie of an extrusion typehaving no core line in the core part where resin such as olefin is usedand a wing part is subjected to a united extrusion molding together withthe core part.

Thus, in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 60/190,654, there is adisclosure for a twist tie which is hardly corroded, is able to preventinjury of fingertip, does not cause electric leakage and is able to beused for a metal detector where a synthetic resin line such as polyesteris used as a core line and a synthetic resin material such aspolyethylene, polypropylene or polyester is used as a coating material.

In Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11/293,577, there is a disclosure for alamination twist tie having a good operation ability for attachment anddetachment where a synthetic resin line of polyethylene subjected to anelongating treatment is used as a core line and a plastic film such as afilm vapor-deposited with polyester is used as a coating material and amethod for manufacturing the same.

In Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000/118,555, there is a disclosure fora lamination twist tie having the characteristics of (1) unpacking andback torsion are easily conducted without returning the bonded part to aloose state, (2) flexibility is available, (3) no projection of the corematerial is noted, etc. where a plastic line of a multi-filament type isused as a core line and nonwoven fabric, paper or plastic film is usedas a coating material.

In U.S. Pat. No. 4,797,313 and Japanese Patent No. 2,520,403, there is adisclosure for a coreless twist tie prepared by means of an extrusionmolding having no core line in the core part and, for example, there isa disclosure for a twist tie containing a polymer substance which is athermoplastic polymer containing at least 50% of polyalkyleneterephthalate, styrene-acrylonitrile copolymer, polystyrene andpoly(vinyl chloride) having a glass transition temperature of higherthan about 30° C., showing a glass/rubber transition behavior at thetemperature of about 10 to 30° C. and having the characteristics that(1) it is able to be bound and tied by hand or by a mechanical device,(2) it is able to be bonded/tied, loosened and re-bonded within a widetemperature range and a tight binding is able to be retained, (3) it isable to be used in a microwave oven and (4) it is able to retain a tightbinding even under a high-temperature treatment.

In Japanese Patent No. 2,813,994, there is a disclosure for a corelesstwist tie using no core line in the core part which is composed of acrystalline thermoplastic synthetic resin such as polyethylene resin,polypropylene resin, polyamide resin, polybutylene terephthalate resinand polyethylene terephthalate resin and glass beads having a particlesize of not larger than 60 μ and prepared by elongation where theelongation rate is 2.5-fold or more whereby it is easily twisted and isable to retain its twisted binding state.

In U.S. Pat. No. 5,154,964, there is a disclosure for a ribbon-shapedwireless twist tie having no core line in the core part which is easilytwisted and easily loosened. The tie is prepared by elongation, to anextent of 2.5-fold or more, of a polymer resin having a degree ofcrystallization of 10 to 60% at the crystallization temperature of about100 to 250° C.

In Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000/095,267, there is a disclosure fora plastic-bound tie having no core line in the core part in which atensile elasticity load of the convex part playing a role of the core is100 to 625 kgf while that of the flat part playing a role of a wing is20 to 120 kgf whereby the load of the former is twice or more of theload of the latter and two incompatible properties of easy deformationversus strong binding property are able to be available at the sametime.

In those twist ties in which the core part has no core line or wire isnot used for the core line of the core part and the material used forthe coating material is constituted from a non-halogenous material suchas olefin resin, improvement in their properties is significant and, inthe shape being cut in a short size, they fully achieve their functionand have been able to be used without problem. On the other handhowever, ability of the core part for forming a fixed shape isessentially weaker than wire and, moreover, the coating material hashigher hardness than soft PVC as compared with the conventional twistties where wire is used as a core line and PVC is used as a coatingmaterial. Therefore, they are not convenient for a shape of being woundin a bundle like in the case of winding on a reel. Thus, during winding,transportation and actual use, there are resulted slipping down of thetie into gap of a reel, torsion of the tie itself, curl, twining andtangling of the tie and loosening or disjoining from a wound state and,as a result, there are generated many problems such as that a smoothdrawing-out is not possible whereby the actual situation is that nocompletely satisfactory tie has been available yet.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION

The present invention has been achieved for solving the problems in theprior art as such and its object is to provide a nonmetallic twist tiein which the function inherent to the twist tie is of course availableand the twist tie is easily made into a shape of being wound in a bundlewhereby its drawing-out from the wound shape is able to be carried outsmoothly.

To be more specific, an object of the present invention is to provide anonmetallic twist tie in a shape of a ribbon in which both core part andwing part are constituted from a non-halogenous material and necessaryfunction inherent to the twist tie such as torsion property and bindingproperty are fully achieved wherein, during forming and retaining itsstate of being wound in a bundle, there is little occurrence of slippingdown of the tie into gap of a reel, torsion and curl of the tie itself,twining and tangling of ties, loosening or disjoining in a wound stateand, during the operation of forming and retaining its state of beingwound in a bundle and mechanical binding of a material to be bound,there is materialized a smooth drawing-out from the wound state.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a ribbon-shaped nonmetallic twist tiehaving a core part and a wing part constituted from a non-halogenousmaterial which is characterized in that total width is 1.5 to 20.0 mm,the maximum thickness of the wing part is 0.02 to 0.20 mm and themaximum thickness of the core part is 0.04- to 0.30-fold of the totalwidth.

In a preferred embodiment of the nonmetallic twist tie of the presentinvention, it has a binding property where a torsion strength is 5.0 to15 N, a rigidity where a tensile elasticity is 5,000 to 30,000 Mpa, aproperty of forming a fixed shape where the property is 90% or more, aproperty of retaining a fixed shape where the rate of retaining thefixed shape is 70 to 95%, a drawing-out property where a degree ofcurving to the drawing-out direction is 10° or less and a windingproperty where curl radius to the winding direction retains the range of50 to 200 mm.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

The present invention will now be illustrated on the basis of thefollowing drawings although those drawings are used for the illustrationonly and do not limit the present invention at all.

FIG. 1 is an oblique view showing an example of a nonmetallic twist tieof the present invention which is wound in a long size in a bundle form.

FIG. 2 is an oblique view showing an example of a nonmetallic twist tieof the present invention which is prepared by an extrusion molding.

FIG. 3 is an oblique view showing an example of a nonmetallic twist tieof the present invention which is prepared by a lamination molding.

FIG. 4 is an oblique view showing an example of a binding machine inwhich the nonmetallic twist tie of the present invention is used.

FIG. 5 is a drawing for an example of use of the nonmetallic twist tieof the present invention where a torsion property is shown.

FIG. 6 is a rough drawing of a method for the measurement when a torsionstrength (binding force) of the nonmetallic twist tie of the presentinvention is measured.

FIG. 7 is a rough drawing of a method for the measurement when aproperty of forming a fixed shape and a property of retaining a fixedshape of the nonmetallic twist tie of the present invention aremeasured.

FIG. 8 is a rough drawing of a method for the measurement of a degree ofcurving to the drawing-out direction when the nonmetallic twist tie ofthe present invention is drawn out from a wound shape.

FIG. 9 is a rough drawing of a method for the measurement of curlingradius to the wound direction when the nonmetallic twist tie of thepresent invention is drawn out from a wound shape.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Generally, the nonmetallic twist tie 1 of the present invention takes aform of nonmetallic twist tie 1 a in an extrusion molding type as shownin FIG. 2 or takes a form of nonmetallic twist tie 1 b in a laminationtype as shown in FIG. 3. The former tie 1 a is able to be prepared, forexample, by extrusion of a compounded composition where a non-halogenousresin is a main component into a shape having core part 3 and wing part4 to conduct an extrusion integral molding while the latter tie 1 b isable to be prepared, for example, by making a non-halogenous plasticcore line 5 intrinsic in core part 3 and by layering, on upside anddownside thereof, a coating material 6 of a plastic film constitutedfrom a non-halogenous resin or a coating material 6 such as paper ornonwoven fabric where said film is laminated in the inner surfacethereof to conduct a lamination molding. Those nonmetallic twist ties 1a/1 b are supplied in a state as shown in FIG. 1 where they are wound ina long size in a bundle form on a winding jig (reel).

The nonmetallic twist tie 1 of the present invention is applied, forexample, to a binding machine 11 as shown in FIG. 4 whereby the use in awound state 2 of as long as, for example, about 500 m to 5,000 m is madepossible although there is no particular limitation for the length. Forsuch a purpose, it goes without saying that the binding ability uponbinding by a binding machine 11 such as a torsion strength (expressed bya binding force measured by a method as shown in FIG. 6) in a torsionstate as shown, for example, in FIG. 5 is to be excellent and, moreover,in a wound shape 2 such as winding on a reel, occurrences of slippingdown of the tie 1 into gap of a reel 2 a, torsion and curl of the tie 1,twining and tangling of ties 1 or loosening or disjoining of tie 1 fromthe reel 2 a is not preferred and they should have been solved.

When a nonmetallic twist tie 1 is wound in a bundle form such a woundaround a reel or the like, the phenomena such as slipping down of thebound tie 1 into gap of a reel 2 a, torsion and curl of the tie itself,twining and tangling of ties 1 or loosening or disjoining of tie 1 fromthe reel 2 a are apt to happen upon winding, transportation and use.

As a result, when slipping down of the twist tie 1 into gap of a reel,torsion thereof, or twining and tangling of the twist ties 1 happens forexample, an unequal resistance is resulted in the twist tie 1 upondrawing out from a wound state 2 whereby there is resulted aninconvenience such as curving of the twist tie to left or to right.

Further, curl of the twist tie 1 results in a curl in the windingdirection of the reel 2 a causing a binding mistake.

On the other hand, disjoining and loosening of the twist tie 1 in awound shape 2 due to poor property of forming a fixed shape and poorproperty of retaining a fixed shape of the twist tie 1 are the causesfor difficulty in twist in the binding using a binding machine or forbreakage of the wing.

The present inventors have intensively carried out studies for solvingthose problems and, as a result, they have found that, when curvingdegree a upon drawing-out of the twist tie 1 and curl radius r to awinding direction are controlled within a predetermined range, a goodstate of drawing out causing no induction of binding mistake is able tobe achieved.

Thus, as shown in FIG. 8, it is necessary that a curving degree a toleft and to right against the drawing-out direction is kept within 10°.The reason is that, when the curving degree is more than 10°, it oftenhappens that the tie is not well held by a binding machine 11 resultingin a binding mistake.

It is also necessary that a curl radius r to the winding direction is tobe within a range of 50 to 200 mm. The reasons is that there are manycases that, when it is more than 200 mm, an upward curvature occurs anda continuous binding by a binding machine 11 is difficult while, when itis less than 50 mm, a downward curvature occurs resulting in troublesfor a continuous binding by a binding machine 11.

On the other hand, when difficulty in twist in the binding using abinding machine 11 and breakage of the wing were investigated, frequencyfor finding such inconveniences was very low in the twist tie 1 where atorsion strength (i.e. a binding force) was within a range of 5 to 15 N.

On the basis of the findings of the studies as such, the presentinventors have further investigated the shape of a bound tie 1 wherefalling down of a twist tie 1 in a wound form 2 into a gap of a reel 2a, torsion thereof and twining and tangling of ties 1 hardly take place.

The result was that, in a twist tie 1 where falling down, torsion,twining and tangling hardly occur, its total width (w in FIG. 2 and FIG.3) is within a range of 1.50 to 20.0 mm and, more preferably, 2.5 to20.0 mm.

When the total width w is narrower than 1.50 mm, function of the wingpart 4 of the twist tie 1 was hardly achieved and frequency of dropping,torsion, twining and tangling increased. When it is wider than 20 mm,width of the wing part 4 also expanded and there were many cases ofcausing troubles for torsion binding of the twist tie 1.

When the thickness of the wing part 4 was investigated, the maximumthickness of the wing part 4 was appropriate to be 0.02 to 0.2 mm and,more preferably, 0.03 to 0.2 mm.

When thickness of the wing part 4 was thinner than 0.02 mm, the effectas the wing part 4 was hardly achieved and, for example, falling into agap of the reel 2 a by oscillation took place. When it was thicker than0.2 mm, there was a problem such a breakage of the wing upon binding.

Then the core part 3 was investigated and the maximum thickness h of thecore part 3 was found to be taken into consideration with regard to thetotal width w.

Thus, in view of stability and of easy binding of the twist tie 1 uponmaking into a wound shape 2, it was found to be necessary that themaximum thickness h (height) of the core part 3 was to be made thickwhen the width w became big while, when the width w became narrow, itwas to be made thin.

As a result of further investigation about that, it was found that bothwinding property and binding property were satisfied to the best extentwhen the maximum thickness h of the core part 3 was 0.04- to 0.30-foldor, more preferably, 0.05- to 0.25-fold of the total width w of thetwist tie 1.

When the maximum thickness h of the core part 3 was less than 0.04-foldto the total width w, the shape was nearly in plate and a stable statewas available in winding while, in view of binding, fulcrum for thetorsion became wide whereby it was hardly twisted and poor binding wasapt to be resulted.

On the other hand, when the maximum thickness h was more than 0.3-foldto the total width w, although that was good in terms of a good binding,state of the wound shape 2 became unstable because the core part 3 wasprojected in winding and, as a result, the twist tie 1 was apt to slipduring winding whereby there was a possibility of resulting in fallinginto the gap and twining and tangling of ties 1.

Although it is possible to make the shape of the core part 3 into convexon one side as shown in FIG. 2 particularly in view of consideration inthe wound shape 2, there is no necessity to insist on that shape but theconclusion is that it is acceptable to have a thickness h in 0.04- to0.3-fold to the total width w.

Then the present inventors investigated a phenomenon where disjoiningand loosening are apt to occur in a bound tie 1 in a wound shape 2. As aresult, it was found that, in order not to cause disjoining andloosening, it is necessary to give 90% or more property of forming afixed shape and 70 to 95% of property of retaining a fixed shape to thebound tie 1.

Further, when an investigation was conducted for a torsion strength inorder not to cause a binding mistake in binding, the twist tie 1 havinga binding property (torsion strength) of 5 to 15 N showed the leastbinding mistake.

The property of forming a fixed shape, property of retaining a fixedshape and binding property within the aforementioned numeral range wereachieved in a twist tie 1 where a tensile elasticity was 5,000 to 30,000Mpa.

The tensile elasticity is able to be obtained by any of the followings.They are (1) the use of a plastic core material 5 (FIG. 3) which ishighly elongated to an extent of 10-fold or more and (b) an extrusionmolding of a compounded substance to which a filler is added followed bysubjecting to an elongation of 2.5-fold or more (FIG. 2).

With regard to a torsion strength (binding force), the preferred one ina mechanical binding was 5 to 15 N. In other words, when the torsionstrength (binding force) was less than 5 N, there was a binding mistakesuch as a loosening immediately after binding in a mechanical binding.In the case of more than 15 N where a strong load was applied upon thetorsion, load was applied to a machine whereby an undesired bindingstate was noted such as that the bound part was in a shape of beingbunched up together.

In addition, when the torsion strength (biding force) was less than 5 N,there was a problem in a function as a twist tie 1 such as a slippingoff from a thing to be bound 7 or a disjointing by a mere weak force. Inthe case of more than 15 N, although there as no problem in a bindingforce, disjointing was poor as a result of too tight binding wherebythere was a disadvantage of difficulty in recycling.

Now, property of retaining a fixed shape will be illustrated. When theproperty of retaining a fixed shape was less than 70%, there were manycases where disjoining of the tie 1 from the reel 2 a was induced while,when it was more than 95%, the recovering force is poor wherebyfrequency of slipping down into the gap and tangling and twining of thelines was much.

In a twist tie 1 where the property of forming a fixed shape was lessthan 90%, it was hardly aligned with the reel 2 a or the like in windingand, in addition, repulsive property of the tie 1 itself was big wherebyfalling into the reel 2 a or tangling or twining is resulted.

Now, materials of the twist tie of the present invention will beillustrated by dividing into a nonmetallic twist tie 1 a of an extrusionmolding type as shown in FIG. 2 (hereinafter, referred to as anextrusion tie) and a nonmetallic twist tie 1 b of a lamination moldingtype as shown in FIG. 3 (hereinafter, referred to as a lamination tie).

An extrusion tie 1 a comprises a compounded composition where anon-halogenous thermoplastic resin is a main component and, with regardto the thermoplastic resin, there is used one member selected from thegroup consisting of a polyester resin such as polyethylene terephthalateand polybutylene terephthalate, a polyamide resin such as Nylon 6 andNylon 66, a polyacetal resin such as polyvinyl formal and polyvinylbutyral, a polyolefin resin such as polyethylene and polypropylene, anacetate resin such as acetylcellulose, a polyvinyl resin such asVinylon, starch, a biodegradable resin such as polylactic acid, aregenerated cellulose resin such as rayon, an acrylate resin such aspolyacrylonitrile and a copolymer of polyacrylonitrile with acrylatemonomer, a polycarbonate resin, a polyphenylene sulfide resin, etc. or amixture of two or more members thereof.

In addition to the aforementioned thermoplastic resin, the extrusion tie1 a is composed of a compounded substance in which silicic acidrepresented by white carbon, aluminum silicate represented by clay,magnesium silicate represented by talc, a silicate represented bysilicic acid compound such as mica powder, a carbonate represented bycalcium carbonate and magnesium carbonate, a metal oxide represented bycalcium oxide, magnesium oxide, zinc oxide and titanium oxide, a metalhydroxide represented by magnesium hydroxide and aluminum hydroxide, afiller such as barium sulfate and carbon black, a lubricant such asstearic acid and zinc stearate, a plasticizers of a trimellitate type, aphthalate type, a fumarate type, an adipate type, an azelate type, asebacate type, a polyester type and a stearate type, pigment, etc. areappropriately selected and added thereto upon necessity.

In view of a shape, there is a difference in the thickness between thecore part 3 and the wing part 4 and the reason therefor is that, due tothe difference in the thickness, rigidity is given to the core part 3while flexibility is given to the wing part 4. In FIG. 2, the shape ofthe core part 3 is shown in a convex on one side but it goes withoutsaying that the shape of the core part 3 is not limited thereto but itmay be in convexes on both sides and what is important is that there isa predetermined difference between the thickness of the core part 3 andthat of the wing part 4. In the attached drawings, the core part 3 islocated nearly at the central part but the position is not alwayslimited to the central part but may be at the end. The number thereof isnot also limited to one but each one may be formed on both ends orplural ones may be formed at desired places.

Further, in the extrusion tie la, it is also possible for furtherenhancing the rigidity of the core part 3 that the core part 3 and thewing part 4 are made in different compoundings and an extrusion moldingis conducted using a biaxial extruder.

On the other hand, the lamination tie 1 b has a constitution where aplastic core material 5 comprising a non-halogenous resin being easilysubjected to a plastic deformation is inserted between two sheets ofcoating materials 6 acting as a wing part and comprising paper, nonwovenfabric or the like where a thermoplastic resin such as plastic film orPE comprising a non-halogenous resin is laminated in the inner surfacethereof. With regard to the plastic film comprising non-halogenousresin, an olefin film such as PE and PP, a polyolefin terephthalate filmsuch as PET and PBT, an acetate film or a film comprising layeredproduct thereof or a film using the above as a base on which metal isvapor-deposited having a thickness of 10 to 100 μ is mostly usedalthough they are non-limitative but anything which is able to retain aproperty as a wing part may be used. Two coating materials which arelaminated may be same or they may be different such as paper and PETfilm.

With regard to the core material 5, a preferably used one is fineplastic lines comprising non-halogenous resin which is easily able to besubjected to a plastic deformation having a diameter of 0.3 to 1.8 mm,being highly elongated to an extent of 10-fold or more and mainlycomprising a polyolefin resin such as polyethylene and polypropylene, apolyolefin terephthalate resin such as polybutylene terephthalate andpolyethylene terephthalate, a polyamide resin or the like.

The twist tie 1 of the present invention which is prepared as such isable to be bound using a binding machine 11 as shown in FIG. 4 forexample. In the binding machine 11 of FIG. 4, an open part of abag-shaped thing to be bound as shown in FIG. 5 for example is insertedinto a binding groove 13 of the main body of the binding machine 11whereupon a continuous binding is conducted. In the twist tie 1 of thepresent invention, it has a property necessary for the binding and itsdrawing out from the wound shape 2 is stabilized and, therefore, even inan operation with a speed of as high as 50 to 100 times per minute, abinding mistake is able to be suppressed to a minimum extent.

The twist tie 1 of the present invention is used in a wound form asmentioned above and, besides that, it is also possible to use for a handtwisting for the use in gardening in such a form that the tie is drawnout from the wound form and cut in a predetermined length. In the caseof a previously cut product which is produced for the use of handtwisting, a slitting operation or a cutting operation from big winding,medium winding or small winding is able to be smoothly carried duringthe step thereof because of the aforementioned good winding property anddrawing-out property whereby it is possible to afford a cut producthaving a beautiful finish and a low production cost.

EXAMPLES

Method for the Measurement of Torsion Strength (Binding Force)

As shown in FIG. 6, a loop part 8 of the twist tie 1 after pulling outfrom the thing to be bound 7 is cut at the position opposite to thebound part 9 and used as a sample.

In the measurement, the loop ends formed by cutting are set on the upperand lower fasteners of the tensile tester and pulled at the rate of 300mm/minute to measure a binding force.

Method for the Calculation of Property of Forming a Fixed Shape andProperty of Retaining a Fixed Shape

Property of forming a fixed shape and property of retaining a fixedshape (retaining state to a wound form) are calculated d by thefollowing formulae.

Property of Forming a Fixed Shape (Easiness in Bending)B(%)={(l ₀ −l ₁)/(l ₀)}×100

Property of Retaining a Fixed Shape (Easiness in Rounding)R(%)={l−(l ₃ −l ₂)/(l ₂)}×100

-   -   l: Distance between the Marked Lines    -   l₀: Straight-Line Distance between the Marked Lines upon        Non-Loading        -   (Measured Thickness of the Dial Gauge upon            Non-Loading−Thickness of Sample×2)    -   l₁: Straight-Line Distance between the Marked Lines upon Loading        -   (Measured Thickness of the Dial Gauge upon Loading−Thickness            of Sample×2)    -   l₂: Straight-Line Distance between the Marked Lines Immediately        after Being Allowed    -   l₃: Straight-Line Distance between the Marked Lines after Being        Allowed for 2 Minutes        Method for the Measurement of Property of Forming a Fixed Shape        and Property of Retaining a Fixed Shape

As shown in FIG. 7, (1) a twist tie 1 collected from a wound form in abundle is cut in a length of 80 mm precisely to prepare a sample andmarked lines M having a predetermined distance 1 between the lines areformed at the central position of the sample (FIG. 7 a), (2) the sampleis mildly bent so as to align the ends, the site of the marked lines Mis sandwiched with a dial gauge 14 having a measuring load of 80 g asstipulated by JIS Z 0237 (JIS B 7503), a straight-line distance betweenthe marked lines upon non-loading (l₀) and a straight-line distancebetween the marked lines upon loading (l₁) are read from the graduationof the dial gauge 14 and a property of forming a fixed shape isdetermined from the aforementioned formula (FIG. 7 b) and then (3) thedial gauge 14 is removed, the straight-line distance between the markedlines immediately after being allowed (l₂) is measured by a carpenter'ssquare followed by measuring the straight-line distance between themarked lines after 2 minutes (l₃) and a property of retaining the fixedshape is measured by the aforementioned formula (FIG. 7 c).

Method for the Measurement of Degree of Curving

As shown in FIG. 8, degree of curving to the drawing-out direction ofthe twist tie 1 when the twist tie 1 in a wound state in a bundle ismeasured. Thus, the tie 1 is drawn out from a the wound state in abundle to an extent of about 20 cm length and a thick paper 15 for themeasurement of degree of curving is attached as shown in the drawing andaligned to any of lines shown on the thick paper 15 to measure thedegree of curving of the tie drawing out from the wound state in abundle.

Method for the Measurement of Curl Radius

With regard to the measurement of the curl radius, a curl radius r tothe wound direction is measured as shown in FIG. 9. Thus, a lengthcorresponding to one round is mildly rewind from a wound state in abundle and then cut. A previously prepared thick paper 16 having arcsfor the measurement of curl radius is used, the surrounding of thesample is aligned to the corresponding arc of the thick paper 16 and theradius r to the arc is defined as the radius 5 of the curl.

EXAMPLE 1

Extrusion was carried out using the composition mentioned in thecompounding example for the extrusion tie as shown in Table 1 followedby subjecting to an elongation for 3-fold to prepare a twist tie havingthe shape as shown in FIG. 2. This was wound in about 1,000 m in a formof a bundle to prepare extrusion tie samples A-1 to A-6. Results ofmeasurement for size, shape and property of the samples are as shown inTable 3. Each sample was subjected to a binding machine and subjected toa practical test and the results thereof are as shown in Table 4.

EXAMPLE 2

For each of the PE core lines (a to e) mentioned in Table 2, plural corelines were laminated using the coating material mentioned in the sameTable 2 in such a manner that they were made to reside in the coatingmaterial in parallel and, after that, the product was slit in each widthto prepare a lamination tie having a shape as shown in FIG. 3. This wasthen wound in about 1,000 min a form of a bundle to prepare laminationtie samples B-1 to B-5. Results of measurement for size, shape andproperty of the samples are as shown in Table 3. Each sample wassubjected to a binding machine and then to a practical test and theresults thereof are as shown in Table 4. TABLE 1 Compounding Example ofExtrusion Tie Compounded Name of Amount (part(s) ManufacturingCompounded Composition by weight) Company Polyethylene terephthalate(SA-1206) 90 Unitika Polyethylene resin (NUC, grade G) 10 Nippon UnicarZinc stearate 0.1 Sakai Chemical Industry Barium sulfate 10 SakaiChemical Industry Softener (Adekapol CLE-1000) 0.05 Asahi Denka Pigment(BMF-270, PBF-650-S) 0.1 Resino Color Industry

TABLE 2 Material Used for Lamination Tie Nam of Material Thickness WidthManufacturing Used Constitution (μm) (mm) Company Polyethylene- PET film20 300 Meiwa Pax laminated Polyethylene- 20 PET film laminated filmPolyethylene- Paper 20 300 laminated Polyethylene- 20 paper laminatedfilm Name of Material Average Line Manufacturing Used Diameter (mm)Deniers Company Fine line PE core a 0.67 3000 Mitsui Chemical of PE coreb 0.70 3300 Industry strongly- PE core c 0.73 3600 elongated PE core d0.78 4000 polyethylene PE core e 0.86 5000

TABLE 3 (Part 1) Results of Size/Shape and Properties Type and SampleNumbers Extrusion Tie Measured Items and Units A-1 A-2 A-3 A-4 A-5 A-6Ref. 1* Size/Shape Total width mm 1.40 3.75 4.00 3.75 3.75 1.5 3.82Average thickness of wing part mm 0.10 0.05 0.12 0.10 0.10 0.10 0.10Core line — absent absent absent absent absent absent present** Maximumthickness of core part mm 0.40 0.10 0.85 1.00 1.10 0.46 0.7 (Rate ofthickness to total width) (0.286) (0.026) (0.213) (0.29) (0.293) (0.31)(0.183) Properties Torsion strength (binding force) N/3 twists 7.6 12.210.4 11.5 8.0 7.5 30 Average tensile elasticity Mpa 5150 5490 5410 52505350 5020 30000 Degree of curving <8° <5° <5° <5° <5° <9° <5° Curlradius mm 95 100 95 100 95 120 95 Property of forming a shape % 95 96 9293 95 93 93 Property of retaining a shape % 55 60 85 75 73 65 90*Comparative Example A **iron core: 0.47 mm (Part 2) Results ofSize/Shape and Properties Type and Sample Numbers Lamination TieMeasured Items and Units B-1 B-2 B-3 B-4 B-5 Ref. 2* Size/Shape Totalwidth mm 2.5 5.0 10 15 20 5.0 Average thickness of wing part mm 0.080.08 0.08 0.08 0.08 0.08 Core line — present** present*** present****present***** present****** present******* Maximum thickness of core partmm 0.78 0.78 0.81 0.86 0.94 0.61 (Rate of thickness to total width)(0.312) (0.156) (0.08) (0.057) (0.047) (0.122) Properties Torsionstrength (binding force) N/3 twists 7.1 6.5 6.0 5.8 5.3 4.3 Averagetensile elasticity Mpa 13300 13350 13800 13500 13450 4350 Degree ofcurving <8° <5° <5° <5° <5° <5° Curl radius mm 120 145 115 120 130 110Property of forming a shape % 95 92 95 93 92 85 Property of retaining ashape % 65 72 71 71 72 40 *Comparative Example B **PE core: a ***PEcore: b ****PE core: c *****PE core: d ******PE core: e *******PET core:0.55 mm

TABLE 4 (Part 1) Practical Test (5,000 shots) Type and Sample NumbersExtrusion Tie Measured Items and Units A-1 A-2 A-3 A-4 A-5 A-6 Ref. 1*Stop caused by wound state in a bundle Stop caused by slipping down intogap times 48 12 0 0 0 58 22 Stop caused by torsion and curl of tie times9 7 0 0 0 0 0 Stop caused by twining and tangling of ties times 33 0 0 00 0 27 Stop caused by loosening and disjoining times 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Totalnumbers of stops times 90 19 0 0 0 58 49 Evaluation on shape-retainingstate — x ∘ ∘ ∘ ∘ x x Properties Drawing-out property of tie by nakedeye x ∘ ∘ ∘ ∘ x ∘ Binding mistake times 73 115 0 0 0 98 0 Projection ofcore line at ends times none none none none none none 54 Evaluation ofbinding property — x x ∘ ∘ ∘ x x Total evaluation — x x ∘ ∘ ∘ x x*Comparative Example A Evaluations (∘: excellent; Δ: good; x: no good)(Part 2) Practical Test (5,000 shots) Type and Sample Numbers LaminationTie Measured Items and Units B-1 B-2 B-3 B-4 B-5 Ref. 1* Stop caused bywound state in a bundle Stop caused by slipping down into gap times 45 00 0 0 8 Stop caused by torsion and curl of tie times 0 0 0 0 0 0 Stopcaused by twining and tangling of ties times 8 0 0 0 0 0 Stop caused byloosening and disjoining times 0 0 0 0 0 25 Total numbers of stops times53 0 0 0 0 33 Evaluation on shape-retaining state — x ∘ ∘ ∘ ∘ ΔProperties Drawing-out property of tie by naked eye ∘ ∘ ∘ ∘ ∘ ∘ Bindingmistake times 83 0 0 0 0 78 Projection of core line at ends times 0 0 00 0 8 Evaluation of binding property — x ∘ ∘ ∘ ∘ x Total evaluation — x∘ ∘ ∘ ∘ x *Comparative Example B Evaluations (∘: excellent; Δ: good; x:no good)

As noted from Table 3 and Table 4, the nonmetallic twist tie of thepresent invention has shape and property by which the necessary functioninherent to a twist tie was able to be fully achieved. In addition, inits wound state in a bundle, it was noted to be able to give and retaina shape by which slipping down into a gap of a winding reel, torsion andcurl of the tie itself, twining and tangling of ties and loosening ordisjoining in a wound state were very rare. Moreover, drawing out uponbinding a material to be bound and the binding property at that timewere also well satisfactory.

MERIT OF THE INVENTION

The nonmetallic twist tie of the present invention has theaforementioned constitution and, accordingly, it is able to achieve thefollowing advantages.

(1) When the tie is wound in a bundle form, slipping down into a gap ofa reel, torsion and curl of the tie itself, twining and tangling of tiesand loosening or disjoining from a wound state were rare and a smoothdrawing out is able to be carried out.

(2) The tie has all of properties which are necessary for a mechanicalbinding and mistake in a mechanical binding is very rare.

(3) Safety in actual use is very high in such a respect that, forexample, no metal wire is used.

(4) The tie is constituted from a non-halogenous material and it is aproduct taking a due considering in “environment”.

(5) The tie is able to be developed to broad areas from a long-sizewinding for a mechanical winding to a cut product for a hand binding.

1. A ribbon-shaped nonmetallic twist tie having a core part and a wingpart constituted from a non-halogenous material, characterized in havinga total width of 1.5 to 20.0 mm, a maximum thickness of the wing part of0.02 to 0.20 mm and a maximum thickness of the core part of 0.04- to0.30-fold of the total width.
 2. The nonmetallic twist tie according toclaim 1, characterized in having a torsion strength of 5 to 15 N.
 3. Thenonmetallic twist tie according to claim 1, characterized in having atensile elasticity of 5,000 to 30,000 Mpa.
 4. The nonmetallic twist tieaccording to claim 1, characterized in having a property of forming afixed shape of 90% or more and a property of retaining a fixed shape of70 to 95%.
 5. The nonmetallic twist tie according to any one of claims1-4, characterized in having a drawing-out property where a degree ofcurving to the drawing-out direction is 10° or less and a curl radius tothe winding direction retains the range of 50 to 200 mm.